best way to reduce reactivity in carbon knives? especially soft iron cladding

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best way to reduce reactivity in carbon knives? especially soft iron cladding

what methods have the best results to make carbon less fussy?
i'm in search of the most optimal results.

i've tried vinegar etch, ferric chloride etch, hot chicken patina, and just natural use patina.
currently doing the scrubbing with baking soda and coarse salt paste routine at end of each shift and it seems to be working better than other methods.

got an idea from dave about polishing the blade prior to an etch in vinegar+ferric chloride mix, will try that next. any other success stories?

Are you talking about your tanakas? I have a friend that is just using it and letting a patina form naturally. It is working great for him too, it is so blue it looks like a light saber. However my experience with iron cladding was ... "interesting."

"Sucking at something is the first step to becoming sorta good at something." -Jake the Dog

Patina is a wonderful solution if you can get a nice one. On my nakiri the iron cladding patinas with ugly orange one, there are some hint of blue but very deem. This does not look nice at all.
Any fix for this? I tried artificial patina using mustard, raw beef, chicken, apples, onions, etc and all were more or less same ugly color

Even the ugly orange stuff turns dark after a while. Just don't let it go to full rust. Nothing like processing a crate of pineapples to put some color on your blade. Just keep an eye on it while it's virgin.

stainless cladding is annoying on the stones! why i want to stick with full carbon. although stainless clad carbon for line use makes perfect sense.

greased - no, i no longer have the blue steel tanaka, i'm just referring to carbon in general. what's interesting is that watanabe took on an etch really nice, reactivity was nearly nonexistent afterwords. i wonder if that had some kind of specific finish (was purchased new) that helped retain an acid etch better than normal..

Panda if the knife is being used alot,I always let the patina form natural.When the knife is new it is in danger of rust.Not a bad idea to keep damp towel on your board esp. at first.At end of shift warm soapy water & dry completely.The more it is used the faster the patina forms.Agree wt. aaamax I've put on patina's peeling cases of pineapple.No matter just cut whatever you need & at first take extra care.